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User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Sonic Adventure Review
''YA KNOW, SONIC HAD A RUFF STarT IN 3D, DIDNTT H-'' Shut the hell up. What's up my Shreks, it's DiamondMinerStudios, back again for another damn Sonic review. This time, I'm taking a look at Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast, the blue hedgehog's first foray into 3D. Well, not technically. Sonic Team and Sega had tried to bring Sonic into 3D as early as 1994 with Sonic X-Treme for the Sega Saturn. However, as you all know... that game didn't come to be. It was cancelled, and Sonic fans had to wait for a true 3D entry (I say "true 3D" because Sonic 3D Blast was psuedo-3D). If I'm being honest, that was a smart move on their part. Sonic X-Treme has prerelease footage available, and what I've seen looks terrible. In the end, the closest thing the Saturn got to a 3D Sonic game was the hubworld of Sonic Jam. For years, Sonic fans were disappointed at the lack of a true 3D entry, this disappointment only further accentuated by the disastrous life of the Saturn. Then came 1998. Sega announced their next console, the Dreamcast. Alongside this came the announcement of a 3D Sonic game - Sonic Adventure. With this, hype began to build. Once the Dreamcast came out in 1999, Sonic Adventure was the star launch title. It went on to become the bestselling Dreamcast game and was a smash hit with critics and gamers alike. Today, however, after games such as Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Boom : Rise of Lyric, and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, this game is looked down upon. Many people - ranging from non-gamers to the most diehard of Sonic fans - point to this game as the start of the dark age of Sonic, and argue that it doesn't compare to the "perfection" of the Genesis games. So here we are, yet another review of this game to throw into the oversaturated SA1 review cesspool. It's time to talk about my thoughts on this game. Do I like it and consider it among the best Sonic games, or do I agree with the majority and hate it? Judging by my tone in the intro, you may be able to guess already. Regardless, let's go my boys - Sonic Adventure. Story Like Sonic Adventure 2, the story is a bit of a mixed bag in some ways. I'd say this game has a great story... held back by a few aspects. The plotline itself is somewhat complicated and a bit too long to explain in full for my purposes, so I'll instead recommend you this analysis from Ruby of Blue, as he explains it far better than I ever could. Essentially, Dr. Robotni- er, I mean Eggman? Yeah, that's right, this is the first Sonic game in the west to refer to Dr. Robotnik as "Eggman." He still calls himself "Dr. Robotnik" ingame. I'll be honest, I prefer the name Eggman. It's simply the much more fitting name to me. In these Sonic reviews, I'll refer to Robotnik as Eggman from now on, even if the game came out before 1999. Anyway, Dr. Eggman tries to use the Chaos Emeralds to power up an ancient water monster named Chaos. He does this so he can destroy Station Square, build Eggmanland on its ruins, expand it to take over the world, and establish himself as the greatest scientific genius of all time. Using his new airship, the Egg Carrier, he searches for the Chaos Emeralds to feed to Chaos. All throughout this, the other characters have their own things to do, for example, Knuckles defending Angel Island, and every one is given flashbacks by an ancient Echidna spirit called Tikal. Eventually, Sonic chases him to his base, Final Egg, and defeats him once again. After this, all is well... seemingly. Suddenly, things start to go haywire. Angel Island falls again, and Chaos' whereabouts are unknown. He then emerges and attacks Knuckles and Eggman on the island and steals the Chaos Emeralds. He then attacks Station Square, completely laying waste to it with a massive flood, fueled by anger and sadness. Sonic then uses happiness and empathy to gain power from the Chaos Emeralds and stops Chaos. At peace once more, Chaos and Tikal ascend, and Sonic runs off into the sunset, his job done. So yeah, the plot itself isn't the problem. Unfortunately, this is where its negatives begin to show. For one, the cutscenes are dated in several ways. The animations are stiff, stock, and awkward looking. The lip syncing only matches the Japanese voice acting. Worst of all, though, the pacing of the cutscenes is not good at all, with frequent pauses and gaps in between lines. In addition, some of the stories are extremely cutscene-heavy, meaning you'll have to wait for long periods in-between gameplay. At least the cutscenes are the charming kind of bad, but I'll admit, it can get boring occasionally. "BUT DIAMONDMINERSTUDIOS, IF YOU THINK THE CUTSCENES ARE BORING, WHY NOT JUST SKIP THEM???" Haha, yeah, about that. You can't. Well, not in the Dreamcast version. Meaning that you have no choice but to sit through them all. This is one thing that was improved in the sequel already, and I haven't gotten to the actual game yet. In addition, the Gamecube remake - Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut - fixes this issue, as does the HD rerelease. And yes, I do know that one of my favorite games of all time, Super Mario Sunshine, also has unskippable cutscenes. In that game, though, there's far fewer cutscenes, and they're much better paced. Anyways, this game has a great story that's unfortunately held back by a dated presentation. Graphics For 1999, this game was leaps and bounds ahead of almost everything else. Sure, games like Crash Team Racing and Spyro 2 on the PS1 and Donkey Kong 64 on N64 (all from the same year) don't look that bad today. However, Sonic Adventure beats them all out easily with a greater polygon count, more detailed textures, and a wider color palette. The Dreamcast's graphics hold up far better than the N64 and especially the PS1, and this game is one example of that. It still looks dated, yes, but I still found the game appealing to look at. What I will say, though, is that the Dreamcast version looks a little better than the Gamecube version. The textures are generally nicer and higher-quality on the Dreamcast, and the lighting is better in some ways. The Gamecube version doesn't look bad by any means, and it actually runs at 60 fps (Dreamcast version runs at 30), but the actual Dreamcast graphics do look a bit nicer. Soundtrack While the story presentation and the visuals of this game may be dated in some ways, the soundtrack sure as hell isn't. It's just as great as the soundtrack of Sonic Adventure 2, if not slightly more so. Pretty much every song is great in this game and they all fit their respective levels perfectly. My favorite tracks include the Mystic Ruins theme, Red Barrage Area for Hot Shelter, Mt. Red A Symbol of Thrill from Red Mountain, Sky Chase, all of the Emerald Coast themes, character themes such as It Doesn't Matter, Believe in Myself, Unknown from M.E., and Lazy Days, and of course, the game's main theme Open Your Heart. I really don't know what else to say, this soundtrack is exceptional. Gameplay This game is a bit more complicated to talk about than SA2 because this game has twice the amount of playstyles. I'll talk about each one individually, but I first want to briefly address the hubworlds. Typically, in a 3D platformer, I like hubs because they help to make the game's world feel interconnected. Super Mario Sunshine does this especially well, fleshing out Isle Delfino as a real place that its citizens live in. The hubworlds in Sonic Adventure, while successful in this aspect, feel a bit out of place in a Sonic game in my opinion. I prefer the system from the classics and Sonic Adventure 2, where you go from level to level uninterrupted. These hubworlds can drag the pacing a little bit, as what to do and when can be obtuse on occasion. This doesn't ruin the game, no, far from it, it's just something I would have done differently. Ok, now to discuss all of the game's playable characters. Like I said, there's six of them - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, E-102 Gamma, and Big the Cat. Each features their own playstyle, all seperate from one another. Compared to SA2, this system has its benefits. If you don't like a playstyle, you never have to play it, whereas SA2 features required character switching to beat it. I still like the SA2 system more, though, because it allows the playstyles to be much more fleshed out, and it cuts down on repeat cutscenes and levels. Oh Christ, there I go rambling again. Alright, let's cut the shit and discuss the gameplay styles themselves. First is Sonic. He is widely considered to be the best gameplay style in the game, and I'd be inclined to agree. Like SA2, his levels are the fastest-paced and most fun in the game. I love everything about these levels - the high skill ceiling, the fast pace, and of course, Sonic's excellent control. If I'm being honest, Sonic might be slightly better in this game than SA2, because of one thing - the spindash. Holy shit, the spindash. This is, without a doubt, the best spindash in the series. Whereas the classics required you to stop, crouch, and mash the button, and SA2 requires you to hold the button down for a second, this game lets you activate it with a simple press of the action button. You can even mash the button to spam the move, which allows you to travel at an insane speed. Using it isn't too easy, though, as it actually requires skill to be used effectively. Even with this, though, I still prefer the more streamlined level design of Sonic Adventure 2, but this doesn't mean that SA1 has bad level design. I couldn't tell you which Sonic gameplay I prefer, they're both just that damn good. I consider them equal to one another. Second, Tails. Just like Sonic, Tails is capable of travelling fast, and his movement feels incredibly smooth. While he can't spindash, he can at least roll into a ball to pick up speed down a hill. Making up for this, though, is his flight. Hot damn, Tails' flight feels amazing. It, similarly to Sonic's spindash, is the best aspect of his gameplay. It's insane how many shortcuts you can take using his flight. And thank God for it, as Tails' gameplay involves racing an opponent, usually Sonic, to the end of his levels. I find it fun to use his flight to outright skip sections of the level. Unfortunately, Tails only uses five of the eleven main stages, which is a real shame. I would have loved more of his gameplay. He's easily the best of the three gameplay styles that didn't return in SA2. Third, we have Knuckles. Just like in SA2, his gameplay revolves around hunting for three Master Emerald shards in open-ended levels. I like these stages for the same reasons I like SA2's treasure hunting levels, those being the exploration factor and the fun that comes from clearing them quickly. I honestly like the SA2 stages more, because they're much more intricate and interesting to traverse. One thing their SA1 counterparts have over them, though, is the radar system. It tracks all three pieces at once, instead of SA2's, which only tracks them one at a time. Similarly to Sonic's gameplay, I think the perfect balance would be to combine the best aspects of both - the better radar from SA1, and the better level design from SA2. Similarly to Tails, Knuckles also only has five levels, which is also unfortunate. I wouldn't have minded if there were a few more treasure hunting stages in SA1, because this gameplay is a lot of fun. Fourth, Amy Rose. She is one of the three exclusive gameplay styles in this game, and I'd say she's in the middle of them. Amy's gameplay involves evading capture from a robot enemy named Zero. Hmm... Anyways, Amy also solves puzzles and destroys enemies with her hammer in order to reach the end of her levels. The problem is that her acceleration is somewhat wonky. It takes her a bit of time to reach her top speed, which isn't all that fast. In addition, her gameplay really isn't challenging at all, as Zero is helpless against your hammer. I enjoyed this gameplay for what it was, but it doesn't bring much to the table. What Amy needed was more stages to flesh her gameplay out - as is, she only has three levels, the smallest amount of any character in the game. This is a bit of a bummer, as Amy's gameplay has some unrealized potential. Fifth is E-102 Gamma, the last of the three playstyles that returned in SA2. Unlike the speed stages and treasure hunting stages, where it was a bit of a toss-up as to which incarnation I preferred, I can for certain say that I prefer the SA2 mech shooting stages. That's not to say that I dislike Gamma's stages, though. Like I just implied, Gamma's stages feature similar (but not identical) shooting gameplay to SA2: you hold the action button to lock on to multiple enemies and blow them up all at once. Unlike SA2, you have to consistently make quick combos, as you have a time limit. The only way to get more time is to kill enemies, and you get more time the higher your combo is. This is a worthwhile incentive to get higher combos, and I quite enjoy locking on to lots of enemies at once. However, Gamma's gameplay isn't perfect. While good, I have a few issues with it. First, the control. This may sound strange, but I honestly prefer the movement of the mechs from SA2. Gamma feels a bit slippery at high speeds, and his jumps are a little too floaty for my tastes. In addition, his hover upgrade reduces his previous momentum, whereas the mechs' preserves it. Gamma controls fine enough and these things never got me killed, but it's still something that SA2 improves on. Second, and this is a slightly bigger problem - Gamma's gameplay is a little too easy. His levels aren't that long, enemies rarely put up a fight, and the stages themselves aren't all that intricate. He also only has five levels. It's a shame, really, because Gamma features very solid gameplay that I truly enjoy. There's a reason why this was one of the three gameplay styles brought back in SA2. Sixth, and finally, we have... Oh God. Big the Cat. Alright. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Big the Cat sucks. Hard. He has what is easily the worst playstyle in the game, and the only one that I can say is definitively bad. Big is the reminder that this game, while great, is far from flawless. His "gameplay" involves fishing for his missing friend Froggy. No, I'm not kidding. Fishing... in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Oh boy, doesn't that sound fun? If I'm being honest, it could have been fun. There was a bit of potential here. Unfortunately, the execution of this gameplay style is piss-poor, squandering this potential entirely. The biggest problems here are the controls and camera. They make no sense - for most fish, all you have to do is cast your line and wait for them to catch onto it. You can then reel them in slowly or quickly by holding the action button or jump button respectively. For Froggy, though, you have to jiggle the control stick around to have a chance, yes, a chance to hook him. Oh, and don't reel him in too quickly, or your line will break and you'll lose a life. Sometimes, you'll even successfully get Froggy - but it doesn't count, for absolutely no reason at all. Fishing is literally all you do in this story, and it was frustrating and tedious the first time around. Wouldn't it be cool if Big functioned how he did in Sonic Heroes, where you traversed levels attacking enemies with your fishing rod? Jesus, anything would be better than what we got. So yeah, that's all of the main gameplay of Sonic Adventure summed up. I love Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, I like Gamma, don't mind Amy, and hate Big. So that's what, one bad gameplay style and five other decent to great ones? Hardly the worst thing ever, like some people would suggest. Alright, with that mouthful out of the way, let's talk about this game's difficulty. Difficulty I don't have too much to say here, as I discussed some of the difficulty in the gameplay section. To sum it up, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are just right, Gamma and Amy are a bit too easy, and Big is too annoying for its own good. Instead, I'll discuss the bosses. They're somewhat inconsistent in difficulty. Some are pitifully easy, namely the character battles, and some are decent enough, like the Chaos bosses. The best bosses in the game are probably the Egg Viper and the Egg Walker, Sonic and Tails' final boss fights respectively. They're decently challenging and serve as the final bosses of their respective stories quite well. The true final boss against Perfect Chaos is also pretty good, but not as good as the Finalhazard from SA2. It's a bit easy for a final boss, but I love the aesthetic - a giant water monster attacking Sonic in the flooded ruins of Station Square. It's some cool shit. With that, I'd say it's about time to move on to my conclusion. There's plenty of other stuff I could discuss, like the time trial missions and the Chao Garden, but I don't feel an incentive to talk about these things. I just wanted to discuss the main gameplay as I experienced it. Conclusion Overall, I quite like this game. Like SA2, it ended up being even better than I expected going in, and even then I expected it to be at least decent. With a good storyline, good graphics, a kick-ass soundtrack, and mostly great gameplay styles, I had a great deal of fun with this one. Yeah, it may have aged in some ways, such as its dated story presentation and poor pacing at times, and it may have Big the Cat and a few mildly annoying moments, but the immense amount of fun I had with the other five gameplay styles makes it hard to complain too much. If you were to go for any version, I would reccommend the Gamecube or PC version. As for how it ranks compared to the other Sonic games, Sonic Adventure 2 is still my favorite. I also think Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic 2 are better. This makes Sonic Adventure my fourth-favorite in the series. I also like Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, and Banjo-Kazooie more. However, this game is better than Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage for me. For a game this old, that's not too shabby. Whatever the case, I would recommend you play this game. Next up, I'm not too sure. For now, I'm not quite done with the blue blur, becuase I still want to cover Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle in a relatively short, combined review, alongside Sonic Heroes. I also want to review the "sloppy seconds" of the classic era (which includes the Game Gear games, 3D Blast, and some others), the Sonic Advance trilogy, Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors, Sonic Mania, and a few others I probably forgot about, but those will come a little later. Other than Sonic, the PS2 Ratchet & Clank trilogy, Jak & Daxter: Precursor Legacy, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, the first Spyro the Dragon, the PS1 Crash Bandicoot trilogy, the Pac-Man World games, Mega Man X, Super Castlevania IV, Starfox, Super Metroid, Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Earthworm Jim, Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Celeste, Kirby Super Star, and many, many more that I won't list in fear of further padding out this conclusion are all on my backlog. In any event, I hope you enjoyed this review, and I'll see you next time, whatever it happens to be. Category:Blog posts